


good news for people who love bad news

by mambo



Series: child of thanos [5]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blood and Gore, Child of Thanos Steve Rogers, Identity Issues, Identity Porn, M/M, Murder, Protective Steve Rogers, Torture, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-19
Updated: 2019-07-19
Packaged: 2020-07-08 20:31:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19875649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mambo/pseuds/mambo
Summary: Before they leave the planet, the Captain has an errand to run.





	good news for people who love bad news

**Author's Note:**

> Please read the tags! This is not a chill story!
> 
> Remember yesterday when I thought I was going to take a little break from this story? Me neither.

“I have an errand to run,” Steve says early the morning before his sister’s ship is scheduled to arrive on Earth and take them off of this planet.

“What is it?” Bucky asks, opening his eyes. He’s been awake for a while, only drifting in and out of a light sleep for hours. It’s been the same thing every night since they came to Stark Tower, the prickling feeling of eyes everywhere, the slow reach of tentacles ready to drag him back into hell.

Still, he’s grateful to have this time with Steve. They’re laying together on their bed, hidden in the corner of Tony Stark’s most secure lab. Sunlight filters in through the blinds of the lab’s one high window, lighting Steve’s face in bright lines. He looks angelic and otherworldly, his gold hair just as reflective as his eyes in this light. Bucky reaches out and touches it. Steve presses in hard to the touch, humming and smiling, but not answering Bucky’s question.

“Don’t leave,” Bucky says. He has a bad feeling. He always has a bad feeling, but this one sits in the pit of his stomach like tar.

“It won’t be for long.” He rolls himself on top of Bucky and presses his head into the crook of Bucky’s neck. Bucky traces a silver scar on Steve’s side with his index finger, feels Steve’s hair against the bottom of his chin. They stay like that for a minute, maybe two, Bucky’s eyes closed shut before Steve’s head pops up. “It’ll be good,” he promises, grinning, then jumps up and off of the bed, walking naked through the lab like a ghost, the blue light from his eyes lighting the way.

— —

_“Reports are coming in that there has been a terrorist attack at SHIELD’s New York Headquarters. Initial estimates say that almost exactly half of the staff have been killed by a single actor. Additionally. several high-profile individuals – including World Security Council Secretary Alexander Pierce, who was visiting for the day from his DC office – have been kidnapped by the terrorist, who has since fled the scene. Simultaneously, an unknown whistleblower from within SHIELD has released thousands of classified files onto the Internet. While many are still encrypted, early reports show that SHIELD may have been infiltrated by HYDRA, the Nazi-affiliated fringe group best known for their actions during World War II. We’ll keep you updated as we learn more about this situation.”_

— —

“Good morning, Secretary Pierce,” the Captain says as his final hostage opens his eyes. He’s one of several, dragged from the wreckage of SHIELD’s New York headquarters to a dark basement somewhere in Manhattan. The iron stench of the other hostages’ blood fills the stale air. The Captain takes a sniff, ready for more.

“Oh, it’s you,” Pierce says. “Did away with the Winter Soldier and now the rest of us?” His eyes flick over to the pile of bodies in the corner of the room for just a moment, then back to the Captain. If the sight of his dead comrades shakes him, there’s no evidence of it. Rather, Secretary Pierce seems as at home in death as the Captain does.

“His name is Bucky,” the Captain says sweetly.

Pierce raises an eyebrow. “Is it now?” he asks, feigning ignorance.

“I’ve seen your files; I know you knew. So did they,” he says, gesturing to the pile. The lifeless eyes of STRIKE Commander Brock Rumlow are still open, a limp puppet taking in the scene from the top of the pile. He’d put up the most fight of the lot but that doesn’t mean he was even a moderate challenge for the Captain.

“You work for Thanos, don’t you?” The vein in the Captain’s neck twitches. “When he comes here, he’ll need loyalty, people he can rely on in the new world order. I’m one of those people, I can assure you.”

“No loyalty for them?” the Captain asks, still smiling, eyes flicking to the bodies.

Pierce smiles back at him, something wise and knowing in his eyes that feels like evil. “I’ll mourn them, in time.”

“You don’t have much time left,” the Captain says, taking one step closer to the chair, then another. He bends down, his eyes even with Pierce’s. “Do you want to know something?” the Captain asks, voice still molasses – sticky and sweet.

“I would serve Thanos admirably,” Pierce says and the Captain is sure that he means it.

The Captain reaches out, strokes down Pierce’s wrinkled face with his index finger, then raises his chin. “I don’t work for Thanos.” Pierce’s eyes widen just a fraction. “I work for Bucky Barnes,” Steve says, then uses his free hand to stab Pierce in the gut.

“Don’t worry,” the Captain remarks, turning away and taking a step back from Pierce, bloody dagger in his hand. “That won’t kill you.”

“What do you want?” Pierce asks, voice ragged.

“I want you to feel even a fraction of what he’s felt over the past seventy years,” the Captain says, voice finally turning dark. His eyes stray to the pile of bodies in the corner, then down to himself, his clothes covered in their blood. “I want you to know what it’s like,” he adds, a little more gentle.

“He’s an animal, a machine. I tried treating him like any other soldier but he was already gone by the time he was under my command.”

“He’s soft,” Steve says. “He’s kind.” His free hand curls his hand into a fist, then stretches it back out again.

“Whatever he’s told you is a lie.” The man already sounds tired, weaker. It seems like the Captain will need to go about this more quickly than he would’ve liked in an ideal world, lest he die before the Captain means to have him die. He forgets sometimes how easily killed humans are. It’s hard to believe that he was once one of them. “He’s been trained in espionage; he’s using you.”

“He’s not capable of that.” The Captain shuts his eyes for a moment, takes a breath. He lets himself think of moonlight, of soft skin and a gentle caress. Then he turns back to Pierce, smiling again. “You are, though.”

“I assure you that—“

“Stop talking,” the Captain orders, “or I’ll cut out your tongue.”

Suddenly, Pierce’s mouth snaps shut.

“You’ve gotten much too far just through speech,” the Captain says, looming over Pierce. “A master negotiator, right?” The Captain goes down on his knees in front of the chair. He casually removes Pierce’s leather dress shoe, then his monogrammed argyle sock. He takes a moment to inspect the foot, its wrinkled skin and yellowed toenails, then grabs ahold of his pinky toe and tugs. Pierce grunts; blood from his gut wound trickling down his legs and falling onto the Captain’s already bloodied hands. “Shh, shh,” the Captain urges. “Every time you make a noise, I…” He goes to the forth toe and tugs; the bone makes a cracking noise as it breaks.

But Pierce just can’t help himself. The Captain ends up having to break every one of his toes.

“Anything to say now?” the Captain asks as Pierce heaves. A bit of bile is stuck to the corner of his lip, the rest of his stomach’s meager contents mixing with the blood on his bespoke suit. He’s pissed himself, too, and the smell is unpleasant enough that the Captain straightens up, stretching to get a knot out of his back.

Pierce takes one labored breath, then another. “I can still be of use,” he says.

“To whom?” the Captain asks.

“To you.”

The Captain raises an eyebrow. “I have power. If I live, I can help you get—“

“I’m completely uninterested in power, especially power on this puny world.” The Captain breathes in deep. “There are so many worlds, so many places. People on your planet have no idea what else is in the galaxy. You’re all too narrow.” He smiles at Pierce. “I’m going to take him away from this planet. I’m going to show him all of the good things in the galaxy. But first, I’m going to show him your dead body.”

“There is nothing more important than power. You don’t understand it yet, but with time... I can show you what power is.”

The Captain grins, claps twice. “Great speech.” He drops his hands to his sides. “Though I’ve heard it before. I’ve heard it a dozen times before. Do you know how many powerful people I’ve killed? You all die the same.” His smile falls. “The speech never changes.” Steve feels something bubble up in himself, thick in his stomach. “You think you’re it but someone will fill your place and they’ll die, too.”

The Captain swallows down bile. “You all die the same,” he repeats.

“You don’t look well,” Pierce says. “Perhaps you should—“ He pauses, takes a deep breath. “Perhaps you should sit down.”

The Captain blinks, coming back to himself. He grins again. “You’re so thoughtful,” he says, then closes the space between them, swings his leg over Pierce’s lap and sits. Smiling, he shoves his thumb into Pierce’s open gut wound, humming happily as Pierce screams.

“I’m trying to think of what to do next,” the Captain says. He absently strokes the side of Pierce’s face, leaving a trail of blood across the wrinkled skin.

“Let me go,” Pierce says. “I won’t say a word.”

“Stop begging. You’re not leaving here alive. Accept that.”

“I have so much I still need to do.”

“No you don’t,” the Captain says, shaking his head, voice gentle. “It ends here.” He leans in and presses a kiss to the trail of blood, feels its stickiness on his lips as he pulls away. “Let’s start with your arm,” he says, pulling his knife back out of its holster. “Bucky said it took hours for them to saw off what was left of his arm. Yours is healthy, so it’ll probably take even longer.” He points the dagger down to Pierce’s left shoulder, but just before he’s about to make the first cut, he looks back up at Pierce. “If you survive this, I’ll let you have some milk,” he says with a smile before starting in.

— —

Steve gets back in in the middle of the night. He’s naked, freshly washed and dripping water, soft plinks against the hard lab floor. His pale skin glows in the dark lab and his eyes shine bright, angelic and otherworldly, untouchable. “Steve?” Bucky asks, voice rough and sleep harsh.

“I brought you something, my love,” Steve says.

Bucky sits up on the mattress, wipes the sleep from his eyes. He looks at Steve, who seems too calm, almost floating as he walks towards Bucky. There’s something about him that’s usually buzzing, that moves at such high velocity that it’s impossible to explain or pin down. But right now he seems too present, too serene. Bucky’s insides turn to ice just seeing him this way.

“What is it?” Bucky asks, voice shaking.

Smiling so sweetly, Steve closes the space between them, bends down on one knee, holds out his hand, and reveals the blue eye of Alexander Pierce.

Bucky screams.

**Author's Note:**

> You can follow me on [Twitter](twitter.com/mamboao3) and/or [Tumblr](whtaft.tumblr.com). You can also spread the good word about this series on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/mamboao3/status/1123232133483515904) and/or [Tumblr](https://whtaft.tumblr.com/post/184873977954/child-of-thanos-an-ongoing-series-by-mambo-steve). Thank you for reading!


End file.
